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The Iron-Forging Festival

On the banks of the rushing Kroparica Stream, in the shade of the forested Jelovica Plateau, one of the major iron-forging Slovenian centres lies hidden away: Kropa. Every year, in July, the town celebrates a typical festival focused on the centuries-old iron-forging tradition where visitors can enjoy the preserved iron forgers’ cuisine, customs and excellent singing.

The Iron Forging Festival is a large festival celebrated by Kropa’s blacksmiths and is well worth a visit. It takes place every year during the first weekend of July and its three day long program brings together gastronomic tastings and, cultural, sports and entertainment activities. Saturday is the liveliest day, when demonstrations of the former work and recreations of life in this cradle of iron-forging are on display at a range of venues throughout the town of Kropa.

During the festival, visitors have the ideal chance to join the locals in their celebrations, watch live demonstrations of the manual forging of spikes, modern-art creations from iron  and sample some typical blacksmith’s dishes. They can also discover the Kropa’s heritage that has been uniquely preserved.

The present-day appearance of the protected market town’s centre has been characterized by its iron-forging tradition. The town has two churches — the Church of St Leonard and the Church of the Mother of God —, the Iron Forging Museum, and, a little further up, the Vice Spike Forge.

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